Day 3 of 60

<- the view from my bunk this morning. Why wouldn't europeans put windows in the bunks???

Here I am on day 3. I am already sick of so many things. Like the fact that the bathroom on the bus is only 4 ft tall so I pretty much have to take a piss while on my knees and the fact that if my cell phone (which doesn’t work but provides accurate time) runs out of battery I cant just plug it in. I need to seek out a power converter and then hope that the 2 outlets that are allotted to the 10 people on this bus aren’t in use (which they always are). Grrrrr… Today I awoke to the sounds of the pouring rain beating on the roof of the bus. Looks like im not getting off the bus today. We have a day off in Hamburg Germany (one of my favorite European cities) and I could care less. Not worth getting my only warm articles of clothing soaked over. I have also reached the point where if anyone fucks with me, even in jest, it makes me furious!!! i.e. me: hey is there internet today?? Tm: I don’t know, why don’t you get off you ass and figure it out. – I immediately went back to bed in hopes that I would slip into a coma and wake up 2 weeks from now in the United States of America.
Let me give a recap of the last two days: After we landed in Copenhagen for our time adjustment/acclimation period that proceed to be filled with disappointment and bad decisions. I slept for a couple hours in my hotel room upon arrival and then headed out for dinner with some associates. $40 for 4 steak tips sounds fair :( then I decided to fill the remainder of the day with the drowning of sorrows in the bottom of a bottle until 7 am. When the tour buses arrived, I was met with the pleasing information that the family bus I had been living on for the last 2 tours (because I don’t know when to say when) was not going to be an option for me and I will be back on the party bus for this tour and off to Sweden we went. Sweden wasn’t bad. It was rainy and grey and blonde. I saw no one from the Swedish metal band “in flames”. I had hoped that they may have just been hanging out. The concert was Dropkick Murphys, Fran Ferdinand, and Kings of Leon. I love the new KOL record so I looked at it as a ray of sunshine at the end of my day. The show went off without a hitch. All of our stage hands smelt terrible. Whats for catering you ask? The best thing you can give 15 guys who are sharing one bathroom!!! Chilli!!! That was a bad situation that I will leave up to your imagination. I didn’t give a damn about the Franz Ferdinand performance and I was allowed to watch kings of leon from their soundboard (best seat in the house). They didn’t blow me away but the were good. It seems like 2 out of four members of that band would’ve rather been somewhere else than on that stage playing an hour of music for probably many hundreds of thousand of dollars. After the show, I followed an old saying that I use very often, “When in Rome.” You want to put me back on the party bus then lets do this. I sat in my chair, and forced dudes to play drinking games, Drank about 100 budweisers (and an occasional corona) and stayed up until 4 in the morning watching the road pass and listen to music because I was mesmerized that it was completely light out @ 4 am. Well I’m off to “seize” the day. Ugggggggg!!!

Day 1 of 60

This afternoon I boarded a flight from Boston to Amsterdam. I am headed to Europe to start a 2 week festivals tour with the dropkick murphys. Even before I left the house this morning I already had a case of the euro blues!! Just thinking about the gray skies, rain every day, terrible food, bad dental hygiene, and being forced to work with people who refuse to conform to my American agenda is making me dread every moment. I am 6 hours into the 7.5 hour flight (altitude: 38,829 ft- speed: 569 mph - outside temp: -47F). I can already tell that this flight has made me sick. My eyes are dry, itchy throat, and I just can’t seem to stay hydrated. I am so bummed out about touring Europe that my upgrade to first class has not even satisfied me (but thank you very much to Ken Casey for the hook up). All they have done on this flight is shower me with all of the finest luxuries (steaks, finest of champagnes, a seat that goes completely flat, ice creams, new socks, a sleep mask, exotic fruits, etc etc) and I couldn’t care less because I know where this flight is ultimately going to land. We have a 1 hour lay over in Amsterdam and then we shoot over to Copenhagen to “enjoy” a day off before the tour starts. The 4 tylenol PM’s I took refused to work…. So much for my attempts to avoid jet lag, add that into the ol’ misery soup. This is day 1 of a 60 day tour. I don’t know how I am going to survive this run!!!! Wish me luck.
Blog 1.5
3 hour Layover Amsterdam – Of course it is raining. Why wouldn’t it be? Getting here and seeing the rain makes me realize that I packed zero waterproof articles of clothing. That wont cause me any misery. Ohh and thanks for labeling which restroom and is the men’s/women’s and refusing to acknowledge that toilet paper is available in ROLL FORM!!! NICE FUCKING CONTINENT!